Ukraine: Max level of water in poultry meat to be set

21-01-2013 | | |
Ukraine: Max level of water in poultry meat to be set
Ukraine: Max level of water in poultry meat to be set

The Ukrainian Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food consider it necessary to introduce a single rate of maximum water content in chicken meat, as recently reported in an official message from the government.

The officials plan to set this figure at 4% after a necessary preliminary period for the adaptation of the new rule in the poultry production farms and processing plants.



“If Ukraine can establish a maximum level of water content in chicken, the production of the domestic poultry industry will become more competitive in the international market. Moreover, regulation of the water content will help to protect Ukrainian consumers from meat of a bad quality,” said the Ministry in a press release.



However, experts from the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club and the Union of Poultry Farmers of Ukraine pointed out that the Ukraine government intend to enter the new rules to further the  development of export to EU in coming years. “At present in the EU there are strict operating requirements for poultry. The rate of maximum water content released during meat defrosting at the moment is 5.1%. Without the same regulations no one Ukrainian producer could export poultry to the EU market” said experts.



As it was previously reported, Ukraine obtained the right to sell poultry products in the EU after the positive decision on the matter of the Standing Committee on Nutrition and Animal Health (SCOFCAH) DG SANCO. The next step EU veterinary services should check certain companies and determine if they are producing poultry of the sufficient for EU market quality.



In this regard, Ukrainian Agribusiness Club and the Union of Poultry Farmers of Ukraine appealed to the Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov to instruct the relevant ministries and agencies to review the final version of the countries veterinary rules and to adopt it to the EU veterinary requirements.

Vorotnikov
Vladislav Vorotnikov Eastern European correspondent





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